Filling the wine rack and keeping the fire

[soupy1957]

Yesterday was just one of those days..............it wasn't just "get the groceries" days, but I also had to re-stock the wine rack; a duty that has to be done about once every 4 months after the last bottle of wine has been pulled down for a special dinner from the rack.

While pushing my cart thru the store, I ran into a co-worker who stated that he had had a rough burning season, and had burned two cords of wood already.

First off, I didn't know that this fella (whom I've known for a few years) even HAD a wood stove (we're not THAT close).

I told him that my total consumption since October 1st was about a cord.

Made me wonder though.........I know we are not truly "24/7" in our burning, and we were gone on vacation for two weeks in January, but I think we burn fairly regularly.

I wondered what kind of stove he was using; where it was located in the house; how many stoves does he have; is/are the stove(s) the newer EPA-Rated kind.

Two cords (assuming he also started burning on October 1st) seems like an awful lot! Could be soft wood he's burning; he could be burning more than I, ...........who knows.

In any case, I felt for him...........he was concerned about running out of wood. (Of course I'll offer him some of mine if he wants).

How much wood have MOST of you consumed, thus far?????


-Soupy1957

 

[shawneyboy]

I dont think 2 cords is that much. I burn as my primary source of heat, I do have oil fired baseboard heat but I cringe when I hear it kick on for heat, if its for domestic I can deal with that. Any way, I have burned near 3 cord this year, I am pushing about a cord a month in the coldest months, as the weather warms up I will burn a bit less but this year with the cold and wind I have burnt more than I would had thought I would. I think for me .75 - 1 cord a month, or I would guess 3.5 - 4 cords for the season.

Shawn

Edit: I love a good Australian Charaz !

 

[soupy1957]

Shawn: The Australians HAVE been doing a nice job with wine in the last few years, I agree!

Question: Who's staying up all night, keeping the fire going?! Is this a case of, "you have sleep apnea like a buddy of mine, so you end up sleeping in the recliner, and waking up every couple of hours anyway, so you throw a log on the fire" kinda thing???? (Sound familiar to anyone in here????)

-Soupy1957

 

[pen]

I have gone through about 2 cords of wood so far. Maybe 2 and a face.

I don't through wood on the fire at night because if I did the stove wouldn't have time to burn the coals down by morning. W/ a big firebox its schedule is to be loaded at 8:30 pm and then loaded sometime before 9 the next morning (usually 5:15am though).

With my old fisher stove i burned 5.5 to 6 cord per winter. Last winter with the englander I burned about 4 cord. This winter looks as though I'll be pretty close to that, maybe 4 and a 1/2 if it keeps staying below average.

I heat from the basement. About 2000 sq foot total. Ceiling is insulated well, walls are not.

pen

 

[GAMMA RAY]

My husband said we burned about 3 cords since October burning 24/7. But we did have a pre-epa stove for the majority of the time until we recently got the englander 13-nc and it does not eat wood like the 12. Also being newbies we probably wasted a lot of wood during the learning process. Next year we will probably know what we are doing compared to this year. I have to keep reading hearth.com to increase my knowledge.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Gamma Ray, you are right in that new burners will use more wood their fist year. Lots of fiddling with the stove. Learning to do. Wood not as dry as it should be, etc., etc.


I don't think we are at 2 cord burned yet. I'll wait until the end of the season before knowing exactly how much we burned. I do not think we've burned any more wood this year than in the past either.

Down the road a piece, we have one fellow who has burned 10 cord so far

 

[shawneyboy]

Shawn: The Australians HAVE been doing a nice job with wine in the last few years, I agree!

Question: Who's staying up all night, keeping the fire going?! Is this a case of, "you have sleep apnea like a buddy of mine, so you end up sleeping in the recliner, and waking up every couple of hours anyway, so you throw a log on the fire" kinda thing???? (Sound familiar to anyone in here????)

-Soupy1957

No need to stay up all night, Load it up around 10 pm, good for the night. I have been known to sleep in the recliner at times, but thats a different story. Anyway, load her up, shut her down over a 30-45 minute time, off to bed. Woke up this morning (5 am) after a 9:30 pm load to uper floor at 70, stove room at 78, after 7.5 hours. Just (I mean just) relaoaded the stove, after 9.5 to 10 hour burn cycle. Easy Peezy.

Shawn

 

[GAMMA RAY]

Learned everything I know from you Dennis and the rest of burners here.

 

[shawneyboy]

Down the road a piece, we have one fellow who has burned 10 cord so far

Holly Moley !

Shawn

 

[ecocavalier02]

Down the road a piece, we have one fellow who has burned 10 cord so far

Holly Moley !

Shawn

10 cords is a lot 2 is nothing.

 

[Shari]

We are running +/- 2 cord here.
Right now I'm burning some really, really old oak that I got free off of Craig's list. This stuff was not stored correctly so there is some punky wood in there and not putting off the great secondaries that we like. But, hey, it is 'free' heat!

Apple wood is up next - have about 1+ cord of that yummy wood. Waiting in the wings is locust & elm, then (hpefully saved for next seaon is) more elm, silver maple, lots & lots of hickory (2-1/2+ cords), more locust, flowering crab, pear, the list goes on.....

 

[Mike821]

2-3 cords here...but this is my first year burning. As Backwoods mentioned, the new-b's burn more wood the first year. I think the amout of wood you burn has to do with the following:

* Type of wood. (pine vs. oak for example)
* moisture content of the wood
* Stove (epa non epa)
* Stove size and sq. footage heated
* How well the house is insulated

During the day I burn soft wood/punked and whatever I can get my hands on that has a short burn life. At night I burn cherry/locust/oak for those longer burns. Being my first year I have managed to get some 7-8hr burns in my Lopi 1750i at night. I load-er-up at 10:15-30 and 30-45 min later I am set. Needless to say when I wake up and see a good mound of coals and the stove is at 350 I am a happy man. Lets just say it is a challange for me every night that I welcome.

Might I add....my comments above would not be possible without the knowledge of the folks on this board. Of course the many f-ups I have had tought me a lesson.

 

[PapaDave]

Soupy, we heat exclusively with wood, in a 1985 Ashley step-top. The temps seem to have been colder than usual first couple weeks in Dec., and most of January.
Looks like we've gone through close to 3 cord so far, and we started burning in the middle of September.
No fire this morning (about to start one though) when I got up. That's the first time this winter that I haven't reloaded in the am.
It'll be interesting to see how much has been used at the end of the season.

 

[BrowningBAR]

How much wood have MOST of you consumed, thus far?????

6 cords

 

[begreen]

We are getting close to 2 cords. Winter started out strong, but turned into a pussycat here.

 

[rdust]

I haven't done a great job keeping track, best I can figure I'm about 2 1/2 in so far. This doesn't even make me blink, last year at this point I had used over 3 1/2. I think you'll find between 2-3 is pretty typical for a 24/7 burner at this point.

 

[BrotherBart]

6 cords

Does each stove have a recliner in front of it so you can rotate which one you burn all night?

 

[NH_Wood]

3.5 cord so far (or so). I think 2 cord used to this point is AWESOME if you are running a stove full time. I did use more wood than I should have during the shoulder season due to learning the stove and having fun. I put a lot of 2-3 load per day in October and November, when I probably could have used on full load and perhaps one smaller load. I was getting the house into the upper 70's on a regular basis. Next season, I'll be more frugal during the shoulder season and likely have a 1/2 cord less use by this time (assuming the same kind of winter). I do burn 24/7 - haven't turned the oil on once - 100% wood so far for heat (oil for DHW). Cheers!

 

[Lighting Up]

Soupy, let's see...started in Oct, I have gone through 6 face cords. Just called my wood guy as I'm out of wood, has some split and seasoned 1.5 years have a load of 7 face cords coming...Yes I can trust this wood guy.

We've never burned more the 3 FC a year but showed the Wife ( I call her "Smokey" now) how to keep it going and she is enjoying the heat when I'm not at home to keep it going. Don't mind paying for wood, can't stand paying my utility co for NG.
md

 

[BrowningBAR]

6 cords

Does each stove have a recliner in front of it so you can rotate which one you burn all night?

Funny man! Funny!

 

[katwillny]

Gamma Ray, you are right in that new burners will use more wood their fist year. Lots of fiddling with the stove. Learning to do. Wood not as dry as it should be, etc., etc.


I don't think we are at 2 cord burned yet. I'll wait until the end of the season before knowing exactly how much we burned. I do not think we've burned any more wood this year than in the past either.

Down the road a piece, we have one fellow who has burned 10 cord so far

10 cords, what is he using for a stove a beer can? wow. I have gone through about 2 also

 

[North of 60]

4 1/4

 

[DonNC]

New stove
.5 cord in two weeks

 

[Battenkiller]

Soupy, one cord of good dense wood like (oak, ash, maple, hickory etc.) weighs about 3600 pounds. Burning only one cord since Oct.1 means you used 3600 pounds of wood in 120 days, or only 30 pounds per day. The low heating value of seasoned wood (20%) MC is 7800 BTU/pound. If you can realistically achieve a day-in, day-out average of 75% overall efficiency (pretty difficult, but I'll assume you can), that's 7300 BTU/hr for 24 hours. At 30º outside temp, the average home will need twice that amount of BTUs to maintain a 70º inside temp (40º temperature difference). All of this tells me that one would have to have burned at least two cord to heat one's home entirely with wood from Oct. 1 until Feb. 1. YMMV depending on home and layout, but there are no free rides in the world of physics and heat. 30 pounds a day is nothing. I have put two splits in my stove before whose combined weight exceeded 30 pounds.

I've gone through just over 3 cord, but usage will drop with the increasing daylight hours. We have 7 south-facing windows, so I get enough heat in here on sunny days that I don't need a fire until evening if it's over 35º outside. By late March, I might not even burn every day if it's an easy year. This year I might save the rest of my good wood and finish out the season with BioBricks or the like. Still, it'll be close to 5 cord by the end. It's a figure that I can live with, and the cost of the wood was $700, which is another figure I can live with. Electric would be almost that much a month.

 

[logger]

Burning 24/7 here and only put heat (propane) on once for 20 minutes. We went through about 3 cords thus far. Usually finish up in the 4 to 4 1/2 range.